It's Show Business

Whatever business you’re in . . . it’s show business. Everyone from the attraction cast to the costumed characters to the housekeepers in the hotels, Disney’s cast members know that they're part of a show designed to delight and entertain guests. Whenever they’re “onstage” (Disney-speak for any area where they might encounter guests) they have to keep their smiling, approachable, helpful demeanour. At Disney, every employee follows the same guidelines as a cast member on Main Street. Make eye contact. Smile. Never eat, drink, or smoke in guests’ presence. Disney executives will never step over a piece of trash: like any cast member, they’re expected to help keep the park clean.

Does any of this make any sense at all to you? It really should. Whatever business YOU'RE in . . . it's show business. Any time your employee's interact with or can be seen by customers, they're onstage.

Exceeding your customers' expectations means maintaining professionalism, cleanliness and friendliness beyond what's already expected, and giving “that something extra". You have to show that you'll go the extra mile to make customers (guests) happy, even if that means you open the doors 10 minutes early or close 20 minutes late. If you can satisfy your customers (guests) with their experience, they'll come back. And if that means it costs a few extra dollars, that great service will overcome all else.

Disney cast members are taught to take the extra step - just like your own employee's should. No matter what role they play, the goal is happiness and exceptional service. No one should EVER have to hear the words "It's not my job" from ANY of your employees. Employees should always be onstage and exceptional service should always be the norm.

Go Home and Change

You never get a second chance to create a positive first impression. It’s said that it takes only 4 seconds for someone to form an opinion of you at the first meeting. That's not long. So you can actually handle situations much better just by dressing right. The better your self-image the more confident and positive you'll be about your work.

Perceptions are formed by three modes of communication:
- what we say,
- how we say it,
- what we do and how we dress.
What we do/how we dress (body language) can account for OVER ½ of our message.

If you’re in a position where you’re likely to interact with angry customers, you have a chance to use your image as one of your more effective tools. You can use your image to signal your,
- power,
- control,
- knowledge, and
- composure.

If you’re dressed inappropriately (wrinkled and dirty) or too casually (jeans/t-shirts) for your position and business, customers are more likely to push to get their way, and call for a higher authority if they don't like your response.

In other words, if you’re the supervisor, dressed inappropriately, and your new guy is standing next to you, spic and span – who do you think the customer is going to approach? Well it’s sure not you!

Any career building learning will tell you that you should always dress for your NEXT position. ALWAYS look your best – it improves service. ALWAYS look your best – it gets you noticed. ALWAYS look your best – it improves your own self-image.

I AM the Manager

This week I’m going to share a tale with you. A tale of bad customer service by a manager – not a leader – a manager.

Recently a colleague and I went to Vero Beach to hold a couple of classes for our counterparts. We stayed over night so we brought our spouses along (separate rooms of course). The hotel we had reservations at was a nice one, not upscale but a very comfortable business and travel site. When we checked in we were given wonderful service by the woman at the desk (Betty). She was friendly, accommodating, and would do anything she could to make our stay memorable. I was thoroughly impressed.

Since my partner and I were going to be heading to class at about 6:45a.m. (ugh), we asked that we be allowed a late check-out. Betty said that we could have until 1:00p.m. – that’s all that she could authorize. Well that was much better than 11:00 so we said that would be great, and thanked her. Then one small omittance brought about our customer service snafu. Betty recorded my late check-out in the turnover book, but forgot to record my teaching partners. Oh-oh.

The next day my wife had no problem, however the other party did. He was called at 12:00 and told he had to get out (in not so many words). When he went to the front desk to sort the issue out, he was greeted with rudeness. He asked to talk to a supervisor and was told by the gentleman he was speaking to that, “I AM the manager”. Long story short, nothing changed – no apology, no concession - just get out.

Because of that ONE person - and the manager at that - none of us will ever stay at that particular hotel again.

In any service organization all staff should be constantly asking themselves, “How can I make these customers’ experiences better than from other places or better than they were the last time?”

Remember that “Everything Speaks”. Everything the customer sees, hears, smells, tastes, or touches will impact their experience with you. It’s a darn shame when the only “bad taste” comes from a correctable predicament made worse by management – the very person(s) that you’d expect to make things better.

As they teach at the Disney Institute, (even though this time the guest WAS right) “Guests may not always be right, but they are always our guests.”

Linked To LinkedIn

In case you haven’t gotten out much lately, LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, has been taking on greater importance on how people conduct business, learn, and network.

Information you include, or exclude, in your profile could affect your overall identity on the Internet as well as future job opportunities. The downfall of a poorly constructed LinkedIn profile, or utilizing bad etiquette, can alienate your connections or even turn away potential employers or customers interested in hiring you. You can’t afford that these days, so listen up.

A couple of important pieces of information to look closely at are your LinkedIn Summary and Biography.

Many magazine and website articles don't get read without a good headline. This is where a good Summary comes in. You need to be very concise and engaging in your Summary. If the Summary doesn't draw people in, all the great accomplishments you've had over the years may be looked right over. Then you’re just wasting your time.

The Summary is where you want to express your personal brand. Show us who you are, what you do, and why you’re unique.

A problem a lot of people have is not being quite so honest on their resume - tsk, tsk, tsk. I mean, who do you know that’s going to see it, right? LinkedIn encourages honesty in your resume since your profile may be viewed by any of your colleagues and customers – and bosses. So keep your experiences on the up and up.

While you want to include your past accomplishments, emphasize your strengths and highlights while providing background on your job responsibilities. You’ll need to shorten it up in order to be suitable for a few different areas of your industry. This isn’t the place for full on resume. Keep that for the recruiters.

In addition to a good Summary and Bio, here a couple of other quick tips to help you stand out.
- Most LinkedIn profiles URLs (web address, for you non-techs) will have a slash and then your name (/andyuskavitch). Some names (other than mine) can be common. You can change your URL to whatever you want – just make sure it’s professional and recognizable – no /studmuffin.
- Remember that you don't matter on the Web if Google can’t see you. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is public and includes keywords that people might search for.

Don’t just set up a profile and let it go. Use LinkedIn. Search to see who else you know. Post something AT LEAST a few times a week and get involved with some groups. You’ll be surprised how much you can learn and who you can meet.

What Motivates You?

A lot of supervisors think that what motivates them motivates everyone else. That's simply not true. Everyone is different. If you're going to hold a public presentation of an award for one of your staff, you may just be DE-motivating them. If they don't like public attention, they may just fall back and punt, not wanting it to happen again.

With respect to awards and motivation, The Walt Disney Company does something that more organizations should think about doing (one of many). When a new castmember is hired they're given a survey which asks them how they like, and don't like, to be rewarded and what motivates them. By doing this, their supervisor can tailor, to the particular castmember, the way they're rewarded.

It's commonly believed that money is the biggest motivator for employee's. Nope. A number of research papers over the last few years have proven this wrong. Sure people like money, but they also like recognition, career development, and influence.

Two of the best types of recognition are peer and customer. It's very easy and cheap to start a peer recognition program where co-workers can nominate others for going above and beyond. A certificate and maybe a gift card is all you'd need. It goes a long way.

Customer recognition is another biggie. If you have ANY means of receiving customer feedback in which employee's or teams are named, SHARE IT with them. They can then see that what they do really matters to someone other than the boss.

Whatever you end up doing, make sure that your motivation techniques and rewards always revolve around organizational goals. Employee's often attribute their success to how they're able to contribute to the organization.

Attention To Detail

I recently had a conversation with someone about how attention to detail affects customers. Staff's attention to detail may not be noticed by customers. But you know - that may be the best outcome. That's where I remembered a couple of great attention to detail examples.

Take Walt Disney World (WDW) for example. Most people have been there or Disneyland at least at some point in their lives - or have seen pictures. Think about when you first come into Main Street and walk down the sidewalks. Have you ever noticed the hitching posts? Most everyone I've ever asked say they haven't noticed them. Is that good or bad? In a way, it's good. What would cause you to notice? Knicks, scuffs, chips in paint. The good people at Disney realize just that. That's why the hitching posts are painted EVERY night. They'd rather have you NOT notice them then to notice that they're all scuffed up. That's attention to detail.

Being a Disney fan I have another good example. One of their most extraordinary exhibits is the Hall of Presidents. Anyone who's the LEAST BIT interested in the history of our great country would enjoy it. Anyway, that's where they have life size replica's of all of the U.S. Presidents on a stage where a number of them talk to you. Pretty cool - and perfectly lifelike.

We all know (most of us) that Franklin D. Roosevelt had polio. That meant that he wore braces on his legs. What I bet you don't know is that if you were to lift the pant legs on FDR in the Hall of Presidents that you would find - a complete set of braces on his legs. You can't see them otherwise. It's all about accuracy.

Attention to detail makes the difference.